The Parson's Tale

The Parson's Tale is part of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Summary

The Parson declines to tell a fictional tale and offers a prose treatment of penitence. He discusses contrition, confession and satisfaction, including the seven deadly sins and their remedies.

The remedies include humility for pride, love of one's neighbour for envy, meekness for anger, strength against sloth, pity and mercy against avarice, abstinence against gluttony, and chastity against lechery. These should not be replaced with the different list of four cardinal and three theological virtues.

The journey to a destination becomes an image for spiritual direction. The treatise closes the sequence of tales, followed by Chaucer's Retraction.